Cost Allocation for Derived Data Usage

ABSTRACT

A system and method that allows for information relating to data and communication resource usage to be gathered and analyzed such that particular data transactions and usage can be classified based on purpose and/or type. Further, the system and method provide reporting based on amount of usage and/or purpose or type of usage so that associated costs and usage can be calculated applied and allocated to particular accounts, divisions, groups or individuals within and outside of a company or entity. Further, the system may restrict data usage of devices to data usage that can be allocated to particular accounts based on purpose, source, destination or other.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a system and method for determining usagepatterns relating to a data communications network, and moreparticularly, to an analysis of data collected in connection with datacommunications enabling the data to be correlated to usage transactionswith applications or activities to see what data is being transmittedand how, further the system relates to reporting on data usage and costreporting and allocation based on the data usage.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Data utilization continues to increase exponentially with theproliferation of mobile devices including, for example, mobile phones,tablet devices, laptop computers and wearable technology. Faster andwider reaching networks allow for increasing use of bandwidth intensiveapplications. In addition to the increased use of mobile devices, otherdevices and systems are increasing data usage. For example, smart cars,smart homes and smart appliances consume data with machine to machine(M2M) communication systems as the breadth and scope of availableapplications increases.

But the proliferation of smart devices and systems is not the onlyreason that data usage has dramatically increased. The manner and thefrequency which smart devices are utilized by individuals have alsodramatically increased. For example, the line between personal andcorporate data use quite often overlaps as individuals demand to enjoythe benefits of an always connected (anytime, anywhere, and on anydevice) world. For many, the use of data and connectivity is consideredan essential part of their lives. It is not uncommon for someone tonotice their mobile phone missing before they would notice a missingwallet or set of keys as individuals are quite often checking theirmobile device every few minutes. In fact, smart phones and devices areconstantly providing new emails, texts, tweets, posts and notificationson an ongoing basis in addition to providing the traditional function ofrouting phone calls. The key factor is that data usage is increasing andthe cost involved with data usage can be significant. Further, it isincreasingly difficult to determine what the data is being used for.Historically, with the first devices came out, email usage was all thatdetermined data use. Then web browsers allowed users to consume data viaweb browsing. Today, there are a variety of available applications whichmakes for a wide range of data usage, and it is useful to know how thisdata is accessed and to categorize the usage by the types oftransactions.

For some corporate activities, the costs associated with particularactivities are tracked so that the cost can be allocated appropriately.Consider how the tracking and management of voice calls has evolved toinclude a level of granularity that supports charge-backs, allocationand personal or business cost tracking. Today's voice call trackingsystems employ CDR (Call detail records) to keep track of individualvoice calls. Using today's available methods from a PBX (Private BranchExchange), call managers, and call accounting systems; each phone callis captured along with information pertaining to the call. For example,the caller (perhaps a physical desk for a land line call, or perhaps acode which is entered before making calls), the destination number, thelength of the call, and the tariffs associated with the call. Thisrecord provides information for cost allocation based on tariff tablesavailable from the carrier or service provider, or other pricing tables.

The cost for each call can then be allocated to a specific person orbusiness entity. The call initiator and his/her department may assumethe cost, or perhaps the cost is allocated to a customer or projectbased on the destination of the call. By knowing the time or length ofthe call and the destination phone number, it may be possible to trackand determine if calls are personal or business related. Further, thedestination numbers of customer contacts or customers corporate officescan help determine to which customers the cost should be allocated andreclaimed from.

Calling and usage trends and patterns can also be developed from thisinformation to determine load or capacity across any date/time periods.Additionally, this voice call information can be combined with otherbusiness performance statistics to assist in determining positive andnegative performance, causal traits and best practices that can then beapplied to change the behaviour of individuals and/or business entitiesacross the enterprise. If only a summary bill was provided at the end ofthe month, it would be impossible or at least very difficult andimprecise to attempt to allocate costs on a per voice call basis withoutthe transaction level reporting.

In many office environments, even the process of tracking copier costshas evolved to include counters for departmental chargeback and costallocation. Consider a mail room in a company where shipments aretracked; costs are allocated to the departments initiating the requestsand perhaps re-claimed from the recipients of the letters and packages.Each package could be considered a transaction with a size (perhapsweight, and physical size) which determines the cost associated with thepackage and the postage necessary to send. The costs for all of thesetransactions (sending the packages) can be allocated appropriately.

Now imagine if that mail room could only tell when it was out of stamps,or worse yet, could only tell that there was a larger than expected billthat came in for last month from the post office. Perhaps the mail roomclerk was mailing all of his personal Christmas cards and those of hisfriends using the company's postage meter. This is the current statethat many corporations find themselves in with regard to their datausage, for example mobile communications data usage and associatedcosts. There is little or no visibility for what kinds of usagetransactions are being made.

Just like the packages and letters in the above-described scenario,individual emails, posts, and other events that use data can beconstrued as individual transactions with an associated cost whenlooking at data usage. Some of these transactions are personal, othertransactions are business related, and perhaps even in each category itis interesting to allocate some cost to clients, departments, or evencampaigns/projects. However, to achieve a similar level of allocation asdiscussed in the mail room example, data usage information must beobtained on a transactional level.

Surprisingly when we consider overall costs, it's likely that the datausage costs for a company are significantly more expensive than copierand mail room costs in many office environments. For example, data usagemay cost as much as ten to twenty times the cost of copiers and mailrooms. But, this data usage cannot be tracked with sufficient detail andreporting. More controls and the ability to manage, track and/orallocate the costs for data transactions are very much needed.

Further, when overages occur in the mail room or the copier or withCDRs, audits can be performed and the root cause of the overage can betraced to a clear set of transactions. Where appropriate, bills can becontested or action can be taken to avoid overage charges in the future.Unfortunately in most of today's overages related to data usage, thereis a lack of tools and audit capabilities. Therefore, the enterprise haslittle or no recourse in challenging or even adjusting practices orusage in order to avoid data overages, because specific instances ofdata usage cannot be analyzed on a granular level. Accordingly, it isdifficult if not impossible to determine the root cause of overages on atransactional level.

Data use and cost models can be analyzed and developed just like theexample discussed above. An office environment can determine the overallcost of the infrastructure and bandwidth provided. In some cases datause may be limited to a total usage cost (e.g., 10 GB/month costs ‘X’amount with overage charges of ‘Y’ amount). In other cases it may becost per use, where the total usage is itemized at the end of the monthand cost derived from a formula based on usage. In other cases it maysimply be a fixed cost. Other cost models exist and these are providedto just illustrate how some Internet Service Providers (ISP) formulatetheir contracts.

The problem that most companies face is that, unlike the mail roomexample where each transaction can be monitored and cost can beallocated accordingly, data transactions cannot currently be effectivelymonitored. Most of the existing reporting systems for data use fromservice providers today offer a means of obtaining statistics or metricsto capture aggregated usage and overall cost. These metrics aretypically limited to simple aggregate amounts of data used over time,employing units of measure associated with the user's bandwidthallocation and plan costs. The concept of data usage totals or costs perMegabyte are not particularly helpful as this does not providesufficient detail about the data usage. As such, there is no effectivemeans of gathering detailed usage events with data transactions for theallocation of costs or for the running of reports.

Additionally, with the growing trend of Over The Top (OTT) typeapplications that offer alternatives to a carrier's traditional SMS andVoice services, the growing number of OTT transactions also removes theability for the carrier's systems to track and report on activity withtraditional Call Detail Records (CDR), or SMS usage reports. Someexamples of OTT type applications may include Facebook, Skype and othermessaging or communication applications. While OTT may benefit end usersby avoiding the costs of using services such as SMS or traditional Voiceservices and replacing them with “data based” alternatives, it alsoreduces visibility to the user's activities.

What is desired then is a system and method for monitoring, capturing,and identifying detailed data usage events (or data transactions).

What is also desired is a system and method for classifying data usageafter the detailed usage events have been identified.

What is further desired is a system and method for allocating costs fordata usage based on an identification of the detailed usage events.

What is further desired is a system and method for reporting andtrending on data usage based on an identification of the detailed usageevents. What is further desired is a system and method for determiningand optimizing the effectiveness and efficiency of detailed usageevents.

What is further desired is a system and method for determining,tracking, and optimizing the effectiveness and efficiency of thebehaviour of the originating entity or device generating the usagetransaction(s).

What is further desired is a system and method for controlling datausage by allowing usage when the cost can be allocated and thus chargedto a particular individual, enterprise or service provider.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

These and other objects are achieved by provision of a system and methodthat allows for information relating to data transactions to be gatheredand analyzed, such that particular data transactions can be classifiedand associated costs can be applied for particular data transactions.

As stated earlier, data usage has proliferated on many different typesof devices, including mobile devices, desktop devices, M2Mcommunications and so on. However, all this data usage leaves datatrails that can be “mined” for information and used to classify theparticular usage into more granular designations. The classificationscan be used to correlate data flows and resource usage intoactivity-based categories. Through this analysis and the application ofpattern recognition, data-mining and resource consumption analysis; alevel of detail regarding data usage can be obtained that is notavailable from the devices themselves or from the systems providing theservices.

While methods to sift through raw payload data are known and arepossible, encrypted content and privacy concerns create substantialproblems in this regard. Accordingly, the use of simple data “typing”(classification) into broad categories rather than actual contentinspection is preferable. The goal would be to match the gatheredinformation relating to the particular data transaction with applicationor activity specific units of measure. In this manner acceptable usagepolicies can be enforced and/or costs can be overlaid on the particulardata transaction.

From an administration viewpoint, the resultant information that isgenerated would be valuable input towards assessing productivity,determining security vulnerabilities, and controlling or allocatingcosts associated with data usage. From the perspective of someone thatis tasked managing a communications budget or preventing data leakagefrom a security-conscious enterprise, this information can prove to beinvaluable.

For OTT transactions where users take advantage of data connectionsrather than traditional SMS and Voice services, an analysis of the datausage can provide something similar to a CDR (call detail record). Forexample, by capturing and analyzing data streams and extractingtransactions and events, call establishments, call length, and calltermination can be shown, providing a similar CDR-like reportingcapability. IP addresses or Skype user names instead of traditionalphone numbers could be reported. Similarly instant messaging protocoltransactions can be captured and counted like SMS events.

To accomplish the granular data mining required to analyze individualdata transactions as described above, it is contemplated that softwarecan be used to collect and analyze how much “data per application” or“data per destination” or even “data per application transaction type(i.e. each email size/avg size/destination etc)” is used, as opposed tothe simple total “data used” format. This would include, for example,capturing application specific units of measure, tweets, posts, likes,and so on. This would further include correlating data to personal orbusiness use. For example data used when a VPN (Virtual Private Network)is active, when in a business environment (on a domain) or in a home, orwhen in an unsecure public environment (public Wi-Fi).

This granular data analysis of data transactions will allow a system toallocate data usage and cost to personal or business purposes. In theexample of business related data usage, identification of individualdata transactions could be used to charge back the associated costs. Forexample, software can determine the destination and measure the size ofa data transaction (e.g., sending an email with attachments) todetermine that the email was business related and sent to a client. Fromthat information, costs can be allocated to the particular datatransaction based on the cost system set up by the company (e.g., fixedcost allocating a percentage of total use, or per usage cost thatallocates the cost for the amount of data utilized, etc.). This is justone example of how costs can be associated with particular data usage.

The granular analysis of data transactions will also allow the system todetermine Per Application (App) metrics. For example, the system wouldbe able to determine data metrics relating to data usage on Facebook® orTwitter® and so on. Alternatively, or in addition, reporting can beprovided on broader categories, such as determining data usage forSocial Networking sites generally.

Detailed data usage transactions can also be captured at the originationpoint instead of aggregated from 3^(rd) party service provider. In somecases, specific usage may go untracked if it is conducted on analternative network or data channel (i.e. wifi in a coffee shop or otherpublic/private venue) either on a regular or ad hoc basis. This commonactivity may further hide data usage transactions since the usage ispart of another communication network or service on which the usage isfree and not applicable or tracked back to the user. Absent granularanalysis of data transactions, this type of usage would be unavailablefor trending, costing, efficiency and effectiveness tracking, or usageplan optimization. In one example, if an individual habitually useswi-fi instead of cellular data, it may be more appropriate for thatindividual's plan to have a lower amount of data. In other examples, ifthe individual's use of wi-fi is un-predictable or sporadic, thecellular data plan would be capable of auditing and adjustmentaccordingly.

The system may be designed to determine and optimize the effectivenessand efficiency of certain usage events. For example, the system mayoptimize data usage in relation to service agreements and rate plans inorder to avoid overage charges. In some cases, the reporting can notifythe user of the effectiveness of their data usage. The reporting mayalso suggest different patterns of usage in order to manage usage andcosts. For example, if a device is connected to free or public wi-fi,the device may be permitted to send files of large sizes related topersonal use such as a full size picture. In the case where the devicewill use a cellular data network to transfer large size files, thereporting may be used to suggest alternate behaviour related to datausage prior to sending. For example, if the device is prepared to sendan e-mail over a cellular data network containing a large picture thatis for personal use, the system could be configured to generate andtransmit a report or alert to the device that suggests sending thepicture in a smaller size. In other cases, the system could beconfigured to automatically send the file in a compressed or smallersize based on pre-determined or defined settings. In the case where thelarge file is being sent for business purposes, a notification could besent to the device in order to suggest that the large file is sent whenwi-fi is next available. The system could also be configured to allowthe individual using the device to override the warning or notification,especially in the case of data usage over a cellular network forbusiness purposes.

Being able to allocate data usage to certain services (i.e., whetherlocal or in the cloud) provides another distinct advantage, namely,allowing for a company to make a determination relating to costjustification for the services, or again allocation of costs to personalor business.

It is also anticipated that as internet-based content becomes morewidely available, data access and usage charges may be rolled in orpartially covered by the content provider. As the world moves more andmore towards communications usage dominated by data only usage, it willbe desirable for service providers to charge not only for data as theydo today, but also for the types of data used by employing systems andmethods contemplated herein. Examples may be to allow free data usage toconsumers shopping on an e-commerce website, but to pay for educationalcontent, to allow free promotional content but to pay for emails. At atransactional level even the destinations of email addresses, the sizeof the email addresses can be used to affect whether or not they arepaid, or the rates at which they are charged, just as they are in thephysical mail room example. It is also contemplated that the purpose ofthe data usage may result in higher costs as higher bandwidths may berequired. For example, video streaming may be more expensive thane-mail. In other cases, uploads may be more expensive than downloads.Therefore the data transactions can indicate various purposes,destinations, sources and others in order to provide sufficientgranularity in order to properly allocate costs.

The above are simply provided as examples of areas that can be analyzedand the resultant benefits that can be obtained based on theidentification of particular data transactions and are not intended tocomprise an exhaustive list.

For this application the following terms and definitions shall apply:

The term “data” as used herein means any indicia, signals, marks,symbols, domains, symbol sets, representations, and any other physicalform or forms representing information, whether permanent or temporary,whether visible, audible, acoustic, electric, magnetic, electromagneticor otherwise manifested. The term “data” as used to representpredetermined information in one physical form shall be deemed toencompass any and all representations of the same predeterminedinformation in a different physical form or forms.

The term “network” as used herein includes both networks andinternetworks of all kinds, including the Internet, and is not limitedto any particular network or inter-network.

The terms “first” and “second” are used to distinguish one element, set,data, object or thing from another, and are not used to designaterelative position or arrangement in time.

The terms “coupled”, “coupled to”, “coupled with”, “connected”,“connected to”, and “connected with” as used herein each mean arelationship between or among two or more devices, apparatus, files,programs, applications, media, components, networks, systems,subsystems, and/or means, constituting any one or more of (a) aconnection, whether direct or through one or more other devices,apparatus, files, programs, applications, media, components, networks,systems, subsystems, or means, (b) a communications relationship,whether direct or through one or more other devices, apparatus, files,programs, applications, media, components, networks, systems,subsystems, or means, and/or (c) a functional relationship in which theoperation of any one or more devices, apparatus, files, programs,applications, media, components, networks, systems, subsystems, or meansdepends, in whole or in part, on the operation of any one or more othersthereof.

The terms “process” and “processing” as used herein each mean an actionor a series of actions including, for example, but not limited to, thecontinuous or non-continuous, synchronous or asynchronous, routing ofdata, modification of data, formatting and/or conversion of data,tagging or annotation of data, measurement, comparison and/or review ofdata, and may or may not comprise a program.

In one aspect, a system is provided for monitoring data usage of adevice and generating a report relating to the data usage of the device.The system may include a server connected to a network. A storage may beaccessible by the server. Software executing on the server may receive adata stream relating to data usage by the device. The software mayextract a data packet from the data stream. The software may analyze thedata packet to extract a source address or a destination address or aUniversal Resource Locator (URL) to generate formatted usage data. Thesoftware may match the formatted usage data to known data to generate adata transaction. The software may further allocate a cost for the datatransaction and generate a cost report based on the cost for the datatransaction.

In another aspect a method is provided for monitoring data usage of adevice over a network and generating a report relating to the data usageof the device. The method may include one or more of the steps of:Connecting a server having a storage to a network; Receiving a datastream at the server, the data stream relating to data usage by thedevice; Extracting a data packet from the data stream with softwareexecuting on the server; Analyzing the data packet with softwareexecuting on the server to extract data packet information including asource address or a destination address or a Universal Resource Locator(URL), and generating formatted usage data based on the extracted datapacket information; Matching the formatted usage data to known data;Generating a data transaction based on the matched formatted usage data;Allocating a cost for the data transaction; and generating a cost reportbased on the cost for the data transaction.

In another aspect a system is provided for allocating communicationcosts. The system may include a computer and a first storage containinga plurality of data transactions, each data transaction having a valueindicative of a device's data usage of a communication resource. Asecond storage may contain at least one cost record indicative anentity's cost associated with the communication resource. Softwareexecuting on the computer determines an allocated cost by comparing thecost record to a data transaction to determine what part of the cost isattributed the device based on the value. Software executing on thecomputer may generate a cost report based on the allocated costassociated with the data transaction.

In another aspect a computer implemented method is provided forallocating communication costs. The computer may perform the steps of:Accessing a first storage to retrieve a data transaction associated witha device, the data transaction having a value indicative of the device'susage of a communication resource; Accessing a second storage toretrieve a cost record indicative an entity's cost associated with thecommunication resource; Comparing the value of the retrieved datatransaction to the retrieved cost record; and Generating a cost reportbased on the comparing step, the cost report indicative of the costallocated based on the value of the retrieved data transaction. It isunderstood that the first storage and second storage may be differentparts/locations of a larger storage, or part of different storages.

In another aspect a system is provided for allocating communicationcosts. The system may include a computer and a first storage containinga data transaction having a value indicative of a device's data usage ofa communication resource. A second storage may contain a cost recordindicative a cost associated with the communication resource. Softwareexecuting on said computer may generate a cost report by comparing acost record to a data transaction to determine a cost attributed thedevice based on the value.

In yet another aspect a system is provided for allocating data usage bya device accessing data via a network connection. The system may includea computer coupled to the network. A storage may be accessible by thecomputer, the storage containing first data having a value indicative ofa device's data usage. Allocation rules may further be contained in thestorage, the allocation rules indicative of data usage that can beallocated to an account. Software executing on the computer may comparethe allocation rules to data usage associated with the first data todetermine if the first data can be allocated to the account. Softwareexecuting on said computer may generate a report to allocate at leastpart of the value to the account based on the allocation rules.

In still another aspect, a system is provided for controlling access todata usage by a device accessing data via a network connection. Thesystem may include a computer coupled to the network. A storage may beaccessible by the computer, the storage having cost data indicative of acost associated with accessing data, and account data indicative of atotal amount of cost that can be charged to an account for accessingdata. Software executing on the computer may receive a data requestindicative of the device requesting access to data via the network, therequest associated with the account and including at least one valuefrom which a cost associated with the data request can be determined.Software executing on the computer may determine a cost associated withthe data request. Software executing on the computer may compare thecost associated with the data request with account data associated withthe account to determine if the cost associated with the data requestcan be allocated to the account. Software executing on the computer mayallow the device to receive the data associated with the data requestwhen the cost associated with the data request is allocated to theaccount.

In some aspects, the account may include at least first and secondaccounts, the first account associated with an internet commerceprovider or a media provider, the second account associated with aclient identifier. The system may further include a first partialallocated cost generated by the software executing on the computer toallocate part of the allocated cost to the first account based on acomparison of the type of the data usage and the allocation rules. Asecond partial allocated cost may be generated by the software executingon the computer to allocate another part of the allocated cost to thesecond account based on a comparison on the type of the data usage andthe allocation rules.

Other objects of the invention and its particular features andadvantages will become more apparent from consideration of the followingdrawings and accompanying detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional flow diagram according to the block diagram ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a functional flow diagram according to FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of transmission of packets of data accordingto FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a packet of data according to FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an aspect of how cost reports shown inFIG. 2 are generated.

FIG. 7 is a functional flow diagram showing additional aspects of howcost allocation reports of FIG. 2 are generated.

FIG. 8 is a functional flow diagram showing additional aspects of howcosts tables of FIG. 2 and allocation rules can be used restrict datause.

FIG. 9 is a functional flow diagram showing additional aspects of howthe cost allocation reports of FIGS. 2 and 8 are generated based on datatype.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals designatecorresponding structure throughout the views.

FIG. 1 generally shows a system 100 for monitoring data usage of adevice and generating a report relating to the data usage of the device.In this instance, a plurality of mobile devices (102, 102′ . . . 102^(n)) are wirelessly connectable to a network 104. In addition, cloudcomputing resources such as servers and/or storage can be connected tothe system, and the system can likewise monitor data usage for thesecloud computing resources.

It should be understood that the mobile devices may take the form of anytype of wireless communication device that transmits or uses data. Forexample, the mobile devices may comprise a smart phone, a tablet, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a Bluetooth device, a tablet device,or a M2M (machine 2 machine) device whether in, for example, a smartautomobile or even wearable technology. In the example of M2Mcommunications, this may include computing resources that have datausage without direct human interaction. For example, if a local filestorage system is regularly backed up to one or more off-site locations

Also depicted in FIG. 1 is a plurality of hard-wired devices (106, 106′. . . 106 ^(n)) connected to network 104. It should be understood thatthe hard-wired devices may comprise, for example, a desk top computer, aserver or other type of hard-wired computer equipment, a device thatutilizes M2M communication in, for example, a smart home and so on.

The network 104 may comprise any number of data communications equipmentincluding, for example but not limited to, proxy servers, routers,switches and so on to enable the plurality of mobile devices (102, 102′. . . 102 ^(n)) and the plurality of hard-wired devices (106, 106′ . . .106 ^(n)) to access, send or receive data.

Also shown in FIG. 1 is a server 108 connected to the network 104, theserver 108 being coupled to a storage 110. Cloud computing resources 101are also in communication with the server 108 over the network 104.These cloud computing resources may be cloud servers running internethosted applications or SaaS applications. For example, CustomerRelationship Management (CRM) and other hosted software applications.Cloud computing resources can also include cloud storage, for exampledata backups. The system can monitor usage associated with data exchangebetween various local computing resources and the cloud computingresources. Finally, a computer 112 is illustrated as being coupled tothe network 104 and/or the server 108.

Turning now to FIG. 2, a functional flow diagram is illustrated showinga device (102, 102′ . . . 102 ^(n); 106, 106′ . . . 106 ^(n)) includinga Central Processing Unit and a Memory, transmitting a data stream 113to data filter software 114. It is contemplated that the data filtersoftware could comprise software that runs on, for example, server 108.The data filter software extracts data packets from the data stream foridentification of the individual data packets. In one embodiment, thedata filter software is capable of capturing and extracting informationfrom data packet types and headers. For example, the data filtersoftware may look for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol(TCP/IP) trace data to another system, or may look for User DatagramProtocol (UDP) trace data.

Once individual data packets have been extracted from the data stream,the data packets are transmitted as formatted data 116 to patternmatching software 118 that may, for example, run on server 108.

The pattern matching software 118 receives the formatted data 116 in theform of individual data packets to compare the individual data packetsto known data patterns 120 to generate specific data transactions 122.The known data patterns 120 may be saved on storage 110 and include awide range of information including, for example but not limited to,Universal Resource Locator (URL) data associated with known domains(e.g., a specific URL associated with Facebook®), or IP addresses thatcan be correlated with onboard apps that may be active, or TCP/IP data,or UDP data, or known data patterns that a protocol analyzer or packetsniffer could utilize to associate the data packet with particularinformation, or domain controller data to detect when the device isconnected to an office environment as opposed to public Wi-Fi SSID todetect when the device is connected to a public environment. These arejust examples of the very diverse data that can make up the known datathat the data packet may be matched against and is not intended tocomprise an exhaustive list or be limiting.

Once a data packet is associated with known data to form a datatransaction 122, the data transaction is saved in a database of datatransactions 124 that may reside on, for instance, storage 110.

The database of data transactions 124 may then be used to generate anumber of different types of reports. For example, the individual datatransactions may be used to generate a cost allocation report. 128. Inorder to generate table for the data transactions 126. From the costallocation report, the system could then generate a cost allocationreport 128 for the individual data transactions with cost tables 126.These cost tables may include cost records and other informationpertaining to the service or provider agreement and/or bills 125 thatare between the entity and the telecommunication or communicationresource provider.

There are many different types of cost methods that can be utilized andwill typically be determined by the billing arrangement with the serviceprovider. The following examples of billing arrangements are provided asexamples of how costs could be distributed in a cost table forallocation. The following examples are presented to further illustrateand explain the present invention and should not be taken as limiting inany regard.

For fixed cost systems, the total cost could be detailed and distributedacross all data transactions. In this arrangement, low data usage monthswould result in larger per data transactions costs than in largetransaction months. However, the information provided is helpful as itprovides insight as to the ongoing data requirements and provides, forexample, justification to having the bandwidth and infrastructure of aspecific size and amount.

For usage based models, actual costs can be allocated to datatransactions based on the transaction size. For example, an email ofsize ‘X’ was transmitted from Company ‘A’ to Company ‘B’. In theexample, Company ‘A’ can charge Company ‘B’ the cost incurred to sendthe email, which will be directly related to amount of data used to sendthe email.

For contract and overage based models costs per transaction can beallocated using a combination of models where while under the contractmaximum, transactions are allocated similarly to the fixed cost model.Any overage charges could be evenly distributed across all datatransactions or, alternatively, could be applied to the largesttransaction alone that perhaps generated the overage.

In order to have an accurate system of charge-backs and costallocations, a framework of data transaction capture and processingneeds to be put in place so that the raw data can be captured, analyzed,identified and associated with known data so that costs can be allocatedon a per data transaction basis.

It will also be understood that not all licensing models or cost modelsare strictly based on usage. In these cases, the cost calculation mayinclude other determining factors in addition to the size and amount ofdata used. Some examples include variable costs depending on the time ofday/night/weekday/weekend, and a cost model based on concurrent usage orperhaps bursts of data. In addition to cost, the Service Level Agreement(SLA) provided by the ISP can also be tested through the datatransaction capture and measurement process, and perhaps times whereSLAs are not met can lead to discounts in the overall cost of data usethrough penalty clauses and service credits.

The database of data transactions may also be used to generate asecurity report 130 or a usage metrics report 132. A security report 130could include a wide variety of information including bringing to lightpotential security breaches or areas of weakness. Logging the usage ofdevices can provide valuable insight for a security consciousorganization in determining how and where the organization may bevulnerable. A usage metrics report 132 may include much of the sameinformation as is provided in a security report 130, but with a focus onthe data usage of the devices (for the organization) to better see howthe data communications system can be adapted to actual data usage. Forexample, the particular billing arrangement may not be a good fit withthe actual data usage of the organization; or the data plan(s) may notbe a good fit with actual data usage.

These systems can also be used to automatically detect the usage ofapplications and systems (local or cloud based) that access or transferdata over the internet and over the data pipe in order to allow forenhanced reporting of data used by these local or cloud basedapplications or systems. Further, the system can allow for chargebacksand allocation of costs associated with the data usage for the local orcloud based applications.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a device (102, 102′ . . . 102 ^(n); 106, 106′ .. . 106 ^(n)) as per FIG. 2 is illustrated in greater detail connectedto the data filter software 114. As can be seen, the device typicallyincludes a number of APPs (136, 136′ . . . 136 ^(n)), which may includeNative APPs (e.g. Facetime, iMessage, etc.) and Wrapper APPs (e.g.Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc.). For each APP there are a number ofrequests the APP can make including, for example, APP—IO Requests 138,APP—System Requests 140 and APP—Network Requests 142. Also illustratedin FIG. 3 are System—IO Requests 144, System—System Requests 146 andSystem—Network Requests 148.

All of the above types of Requests can be captured and the data reportedor provided to a Monitoring APP 152 that may be resident on the device.The various types of requests can provide valuable information relatingto the APPs that are currently active on the device. In this manner, thesystem can monitor, for example, usage characteristics of a CentralProcessing Unit (CPU) 154 or a Memory 156 and then correlate themonitored CPU or memory usage with the active APPs running on thedevice. Alternatively, the system could monitor any active APPs on thedevice and correlate Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol(TCP/IP) data or User Datagram Protocol (UDP) data with particular APPs.In addition, proxy servers or routers/switches could be used to capturedata traffic from IP addresses and then the system could correlate thatdata with any active APPs on the device. Still further, the monitoringAPP can serve as an authentication tool to capture a sessionestablishment or a login to a system so as to associate particular datausage with the established session or the system that was logged into.All these are provided as just examples of how the system can mine fordata by looking at a plurality of data sources provided to the datafilter software 114.

In addition to CPU usage and memory usage, the system could look at thevolume of data and correlate this with active APPs. Still further, thesystem could use URLs in data packets or could correlate IP addresseswith known domains.

Additionally, the system could watch data traffic over port designationsor utilize existing APIs to these APPs to extract data usage statistics.The use of packet sniffers and/or protocol analyzers could also be usedto capture data traffic and, by comparing the captured data to knowndata patterns, to classify and categorize them.

Turning now to FIGS. 4 and 5 a data stream 158 is illustrated. The datastream 158 consists of data packets 160 of varying sizes and types thatare flowing by in both directions.

The data stream 158 is provided to the data filter software 114, whichmay include the monitoring APP 152 that is loaded onto the device (102,102′ . . . 102 ^(n); 106, 106′ . . . 106 ^(n)) and may receive datacaptured from the APPs (136, 136′ . . . 136 ^(n)) running on the device(102, 102′ . . . 102 ^(n); 106, 106′ . . . 106 ^(n)), as previouslydiscussed.

Each packet 160 includes a header portion 162 that describes the packet160 and a payload 164 that contains the information being transported.For example, the packet 160 may comprise an email message where theheader contains the To/From addresses and subject line, whereas thepayload would contain the data in the message body along with anyattachments or images contained therein.

In the header portion 162, the packet filter selects the informationrequired to properly classify the packet 160 based on a defined ruleset. For example, for email messages, the rule set could be defined tocapture the Source Address (sender) the Destination Addresses (To and CClists), the Length (size) of the message as well as some other elements,such as, the date the message was sent.

The known data patterns 120 may comprise a file saved on storage 110.The file would include information that enables the pattern matchingsoftware 118 to determine how to detect packet types and what fields tocapture from each of the event types. Table 1 provides an example ofpacket types and fields that could be captured:

TABLE 1 Description Protocol Identifier Fields to Capture Email MessageSMTP Packet ID From, To, Size, Date/Time Social Media HTTP HTTP (tag)Destination, From, Tweet Date, Size Social Media HTTP HTTP (tag)Destination, From, Post Date, Size Social Media HTTP HTTP (tag)Platform, Date, Size Login CRM Login Proprietary TCP Pack ID Platform,Date, Size CRM Lead Entry Proprietary TCP Pack ID Date, Time, Deal SizeCRM PO Proprietary TCP Pack ID Date, Time, PO Number, generationCustomer, Amount . . . . . . . . . . . .

The pattern matching software 118 could then use the rules set and knowndata pattern 120 to figure out what data packets should be extracted androuted. Depending on the technology used to extract data packets fromthe packet stream, the data packets are either put back in the stream,or if a copy was made to feed the pattern matching software 118 thenunwanted packets could be discarded. Still other packets may be passedthrough without any processing or extraction.

The extracted and recognized packets are reformulated according to therule set and known data patterns in the rule set and then delivered asrelevant data (data transactions) to storage 110, including normalizeddata where reports can be run and further downstream analysis can beperformed.

In FIG. 6, the storage 110 is accessed to retrieve data transactions 204and to retrieve cost records 202. The data transactions can indicate thepurpose of the data usage, for example, personal or business. It is alsocontemplated that business usage may be attributed to internal orexternal purposes. For example, sending an e-mail to a client could beusage attributed directly to that client. Therefore, a client thatreceives large files and thus uses a large amount of data can be chargedbased on this usage. Cost records may be associated with the cost of anentity in relation to a particular communication medium. In some cases,the cost for one communication medium may be in a bill for multipleother services. For example, some telecommunication carriers provide TV,phone and internet service. Therefore, the cost record can be associatedwith one or multiple services. In some cases, the cost record will beassociated with only one service. The cost record includes data aboutthe total cost of the service(s) and the total usage of the service(s).The retrieved data 204, 202 is compared 206 to determine cost allocation208. This comparison may, for example, use the cost record associatedwith internet service to determine what percentage of internet usage isattributed to the particular data transaction. Using the percentageallocated to a particular data transaction, part of the cost forinternet service can be allocated to the usage associated with the datatransaction. Based on the comparison and the cost allocation, the systemgenerates a cost report 210.

In FIG. 7, the data transactions 204 are retrieved. The systemdetermines 212 if the purpose of the data transaction is business orpersonal. If personal, the cost record 202 associated with thecommunication resource of the data transaction 204 is retrieved. Thedata transaction and cost record are compared 214 to determine whatpercentage of the usage of a particular communication resource orservice is attributable to the data transaction. An account identifieris associated with the data transaction 216. In the example where thedata transaction is personal usage, the account identifier can beassociated with the individual using the particular device that used thedata of the data transaction. A cost report 218 is generated forpersonal usage. Although data transactions 204 are shown as beingretrieved, it is understood that data records can also be retrieved.These data records may be indicative of usage of types of communicationsresources other than data. For example, telephone, mobile phone andother communication resources.

If the usage purpose is business, the cost report associated with thecommunication resource used is retrieved 202. The system determines ifthe data transaction is associated with internal or external usage 220.In the case of external usage, the data transaction and cost record arecompared 222. An account identifier is associated with the datatransaction 224 and a report 226 is generated. External usage may be,for example if an e-mail is sent to a client, the data transaction wouldbe indicative of this purpose, thus the internet usage associated withsending the e-mail is attributable directly to the client. A similarprocess is followed for internal usage. Where data transactions and costrecords are compared 228 and associated with an account identifier 230.A report 232 is generated. The personal 218, external 226 and internal232 reports may be combined to create a master report 234. Externalcosts will typically be charged to the external sources in most cases;however, it is contemplated that the external costs may be used forinternal accounting associated with particular projects. In some cases,internal costs may be charged in various ways. In some cases, internalcosts will not be allocated to external accounts. In other cases part ofthe internal usage may be distributed based on rules 250. These rulesmay be a number of things. For example, there may be maximum values toallocate, there may be minimum values required for allocation, in somecases percentages may be set in order to allocate part of the costs. Insome cases all internal costs are charged externally. In this case, theamount of external usage is determined on an account by account basis244. The external accounts having a higher amount of usage are thenallocated a higher amount of the internal cost, thus distributinginternal cost based on external usage 246. In some cases, none, all orpart of personally allocated costs may be paid by the entity. Similar tothe charging of internal usage, personal usage may be distributed basedon rules 248 such as, a percentage of the total, a threshold, a maximumor combinations. It is contemplated that other rules and customizedrules may be set. In some cases, personal usage may be paid by theentity. In this case, the total personal usage is determined on anaccount by account basis 238. These personal costs are distributed basedon what division or group the individual or the device is associatedwith 240.

It is understood that where partial usage is distributed to external orentity accounts, the remainder may be distributed as shown and describedas if the remainder followed the corresponding “yes” arrows of FIG. 7.

In FIG. 8, a data request 300 is made, for example, by a device. Thisdata request may be a request to access data. Although a request isshown, it is understood that data (including internet-based content) maybe pushed to the device. The storage is accessed 302 to retrieve a costdata 306, account data 305 and allocation rules 304. The cost dataallows the system to compare the data usage, for example by size,source, destination, type or other characteristic associated with thedata usage in order to determine the cost associated with the datausage. The allocation rules designate how different data costs can beallocated based on various agreements and data types. For example thedata service provider may have an agreement with an internet-basedcontent provider that all or part of data usage for the types ofaccessing content of the internet-based content provider is charged toan account that is associated with the internet-based content provider.It is further contemplated that the allocation rules can designate whatdata costs can be charged to the internet-based content provideraccount, depending on the type of the data use.

In order to determine which data transactions are associated togetherwith a result such as a purchase, the system compares identifiersassociated with the data transactions to determine which datatransactions are commonly associated with the result. The identifier canbe information such as source address, destination address or URL. Thus,a user can use their device to access an online store such as aninternet-based content provider, for example, iTunes by Apple, Inc. Thisuser can browse media content and then select the appropriate mediacontent to browse or download.

The browsing can be associated with a number of data transactions thatare associated with the exchange of data. For example, the user couldview a number of movie previews before ultimately deciding to purchaseor rent a particular movie. There would be data usage associated withviewing previews and browsing, and there would be data usage associatedwith the download/stream of the media content. If the user purchases orhas an account that allows certain content streaming under asubscription agreement, the data associated with the purchase may beassociated with the account of the internet-based content.

Each different type of data usage ie browsing, previewing, purchasing,downloading may be associated with its own data transaction. Thedownloading and/or purchasing data transaction types indicate a result,which allows the associated data transaction(s) to be considered resulttransaction(s). Allocation rules can further allow all or part ofbrowsing/previewing data transactions to be associated with thepurchase. In order to determine what transactions may be eligible forallocation, the system compares the identifiers such as source,destination and URL to the result transaction(s) (ie purchase/downloadof content) with other data transactions to determine which datatransaction include a common identifier with the result transaction(s).Allocation rules are then compared across multiple data transactionshaving a common identifier and some or all of the data and/or cost maybe allocated to the account associated with the media content provider.It is contemplated that larger purchase values would typically allow forlarger amounts of data to be allocated to the media content provider(iTunes), although one of skill in the art would understand that thespecific amount of data and/or cost that can be allocated would dependon the data service provider agreement, and the associated allocationrules. It is further understood that allocation rules can be modifiedwithin the system, for example through remote or local login to thecomputer. Modification to the allocation rules may reflect changes inthe service agreement between a data service provider and one or moreusers.

The allocation rules may provide for different cost/data allocationresults depending on the overall purchase value associated with aparticular identifier. For example, if a particular device or user loginis associated with a certain dollar value of monthly or annual purchasesthrough a particular content provider (media content, online retail,etc.) the content provider may reward higher dollar values with higheramounts of data that are allocated to the content provider.

It is also contemplated that data types such as cellular data vs. landline data could be considered different types of data usage associatedwith different costs and limits. It is further contemplated thatcombinations of types can result in higher costs. For example, streamingvideo over cellular data could be more expensive than e-mail usage overcellular data, which could likewise be more expensive than streamingvideo over WiFi. These are exemplary only and are not intended to belimiting.

Some internet-based content providers may require higher bandwidth ortransfer for delivery of the content. For example, data usage associatedwith video streaming typically requires higher bandwidth than e-maildata usage. Although the value of the data usage, for example inMegabytes, will depend on the data downloaded or uploaded, the systemcould provide for different performance levels depending on the serviceagreement and thus allocation rules. For example, a particularindividual may wish to purchase higher bandwidths for online gaming andsave money by using lower bandwidths for tasks such as browsing oronline shopping. The allocation rules can be used to modify thedelivered performance depending on the type of data used and if thecosts associated with higher bandwidth (performance) can be allocated toan account such as a user account or the content provider account (ie.Netflix in a video streaming example).

Higher bandwidth data usage could be prioritized based on different datacosts and per data usage rates and allocation rules. Therefore, the typeof the data usage may be determined by the system such that datatransactions can indicate the type of the data use in order to allow formodification of performance levels such as bandwidth based on allocationrules and the underlying data service agreement. Some exemplary datatypes could include data use for accessing internet-based content suchas, online retail shopping or browsing, payment processing, productresearch (including product reviews), media streaming such as music,video and other content streaming, VOIP (voice over internet protocol)data usage, video conferencing, social media, click through advertising,and instant messaging to name a few data use types. Because the datatransactions or data requests can specifically be designated with atype, multiple data transactions can be associated with an event thatcan be allocated to a particular account.

The allocation rules allow the system to determine which datatransactions or data requests can be charged to which account. It iscontemplated that these allocation rules can be rather simple or morecomplex. An example of a simple allocation rule may be associated withan internet-based content provider such as a video streaming service.For example, Netflix and Amazon Prime. When a user uses a device such asan internet connected television, typically, the streaming serviceapplication is opened, allowing the user to browse for a video theywould like to watch. The browsing is associated with data usage, andlikewise the streaming is associated with data usage. The data requestassociated with browsing and streaming video can be allowed based on theallocation rules. Thus, a simple example of an allocation rule would beto allow all data through a particular application and to charge aparticular account for such data usage. For example, if the cost ofstreaming/browsing can be charged to a particular account, the systemwould allow the device to use data. Based on this usage, datatransaction(s) can be generated to account for the different types andtypes of data use and likewise a cost of the data use can be determinedbased on the type and amount of data used.

It is contemplated that the allocation rule may provide that thestreaming service application that is associated with a paid useraccount would be allowed to use data through the data service providerand that the allocation rules could associate all or part of the cost ofthe data use with a particular account. The account the cost isallocated to may be associated with the streaming service provider, theuser, the data service provider or combinations thereof. In an examplewhere data usage or cost cannot be allocated to an external account suchas the streaming service provider account, the data usage or cost couldbe allocated to a user account that is associated with the individualwhose device(s) are using the account. The account can be a mechanismthe system can use to allocate cost and/or data usage, and the accountmay be associated with, for examples, individuals, groups, companies,enterprises, data service providers, content providers and the like. Itis also understood that where the system limits access to data usage,the account could be associated with the individual who is actuallyaccessing or using the data, for example, an individual who accessesdata in order to stream video content. It is also understood thatportions of the data usage/costs can be allocated to different accounts,depending on allocation rules, cost tables etc., thus one instance ofdata usage may have different portions allocated to different accounts.The “account” in some aspects can include payment information such as,credit card information, bank account information, online paymentinformation, or system information.

In one example, the user subscription could include unlimited data usagethrough the streaming service websites, applications and the like. Thus,the cost associated with data usage for the streaming service may becharged directly to an account associated with the streaming serviceprovider. This would allow data service providers (for example AT&T) toprovide pay for use or a combination of subscription/pay for use modelthat would provide a free or discounted data connection to a user andthen the internet service provider would be able to charge data usecosts directly to the internet-based content provider.

In some cases, the device using the data will be associated with a loginwith the internet-based content provider. This login may be paid for inorder to allow the device to access and thereby stream video content. Insome cases, the internet-based content providers may wish to include thecost of data usage within the paid login rates, but only for the typesof streaming video from the particular content provider.

As another example, e-commerce websites such as Amazon.com may wish toallow free or discounted data usage for customers or potential customersto browse products offered on the e-commerce website. Therefore, thesystem would allow a data service provider to allocate the costs of datausage on e-commerce websites to the company operating the e-commercewebsite. In one example, all data usage in browsing may be allocated tothe e-commerce company when a purchase is made. In other cases, anamount up to a percentage of the value of the purchase may be allocatedto the e-commerce company. An example of a more complex allocation rulewould allow data transactions to associate a type of browsing productreviews with a purchase of one of the products or brands discussed inthe reviews. For example, if an individual browses lawn-mower reviewsfor a number of products and ultimately settles on purchasing alawn-mower online from HomeDepot.com, it is contemplated that the datatransactions can indicate the type of the data usage and the system canassociate all or part of the relevant data usage based on the allocationrules in order for the cost of the data usage associated with browsingand then purchase of a product to be charged to the company orindividual selling the product. It is further contemplated that part ofthe cost may be allocated based on the value of the purchase.

When only part of a cost associated with data usage is allocated to theinternet-based content provider, it is contemplated that the remainderof the usage may be allocated to the user (or user account). In somecases, the data service provider may have a maximum data usage forparticular accounts and data usage that is not allocated to an accountother than the user account would be charged to the user account.

Based on one or more of the cost data 306, account data 305 allocationrule 304 and data request 300, the system can determine/project the datacost 312 and the system determines if the cost of the data use can beallocated to an account 314. If yes, the costs associated with the datarequest 300 can be charged to one or more accounts 316, thus allowingthe device to access 320 the data requested. If the cost cannot beallocated, the system would request payment 318 for the data cost. Thepayment request could also be an authorization to charge up to apre-determined amount. Assuming payment is made, the system may thenrecognize that the cost can be allocated to an account and the devicemay be allowed to access the requested data. As previously discussed,the data usage resulting from the allowed data request may result in oneor more data transactions being generated. Such data transactions canlikewise allow audits to be performed to determine what data wasrequested and allowed and what the resulting charges were. In addition,the data transactions track the data request so that if cost cannot bedetermined in a monetary value upon the request, cost can be determinedand allocated later, depending on the billing arrangement and billingcycle.

The cost data may be associated with different data service agreements,for example unlimited data usage plans, per usage plans, threshold usagewith overage charges. Further, the cost can include different costsassociated with different types of data usage as applied to thedifferent service agreement arrangements.

Although the “cost” of the data request in monetary value may not beknown immediately after data is accessed, as the service agreement forthe data service provider may be a monthly charge with variousthresholds of data use, for example, there may be unlimited or apre-defined maximum data use and there could also be discounts andoverages associated with the data service provider agreement. Thus, thecost could initially indicate a size of the data use (for example inMegabytes) and once a overall bill is generated, the cost in data sizecan be converted into a monetary cost thus allowing the cost of the datatransaction to be allocated to appropriate accounts, departments,companies, individuals and the like.

In FIG. 9, another aspect is shown where data transaction(s) 122 includea data type. This data type can be, for example, online retail shoppingor browsing, payment processing, product research (including productreviews), media streaming such as music, video and other contentstreaming, VOIP (voice over internet protocol) data usage, videoconferencing, and instant messaging to name a few data types. Data typecan also be designated based on how the data is accessed, for exampleover a cellular network or through land lines. The data type may alsoindicate if the media streaming was business related or personal so thatcosts may be allocated appropriately as previously discussed herein.

The data transaction may also associate the type with the source,destination and other information concerning the data usage as has beenpreviously discussed. For example, the identifiers of the datatransactions may be compared to determine which data transactionsinclude common identifiers so that allocation rules 304 can be comparedto multiple data transactions having common identifiers in order todetermine which of the data transactions can be allocated to theaccount. Allocation rules 304 can also be associated with types. Thusthe system can compare the data type, type and cost data(s) 306 todetermine a cost to allocate 324. Thus if the data type matches a typeassociated with a allocation rule, the cost to allocate may bedetermined from the cost report and the particular requirements of therelevant allocation rule(s). It is understood that more than oneallocation rule may apply to one data request or data transaction.Likewise, multiple data requests or data transactions may apply to asingle allocation rule, for example due to common identifiers. Othercombinations and permutations are contemplated. As shown in FIG. 9, acost allocation report 128 is generated based on the cost to allocate324 and the allocation rules 304. Although cost is shown, the systemcould also generate a report that allocates the value of data usage toan account without determining a monetary cost associated with the datausage.

Although the invention has been described with reference to a particulararrangement of parts, features and the like, these are not intended toexhaust all possible arrangements or features, and indeed many othermodifications and variations will be ascertainable to those of skill inthe art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for allocating communication costscomprising: a computer; a storage containing data relating to a firstand a second data transaction each having a value indicative of adevice's data usage of a communication resource associated with anapplication; software executing on said computer comparing a cost recordindicative of a cost associated with the communication resource to thefirst and second data transactions to determine a first portion and asecond portion of the cost attributed to the device based on the valueassociated respectively with the first and second data transactions; andsaid software allocating the first and second portions of the cost todifferent accounts.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the differentaccounts are each associated with one or more of the group consistingof: credit card information, bank account information, and onlinepayment information.
 3. The system of claim 1 wherein the differentaccounts are indicated by one or more of: a division, a group, anindividual within a company or entity, and an individual outside thecompany or entity.
 4. The system of claim 1 wherein said storagecontains a plurality of data transactions, said software furthercomparing each of the plurality of data transaction to the cost recordto determine an allocated cost attributed to each data transaction. 5.The system of claim 4 wherein the plurality of data transactions areassociated with an entity, the system further comprising: softwareexecuting on said computer associating the allocated cost with a groupwithin the entity in order to charge the allocated cost to the group,wherein the group is associated with a plurality of devices.
 6. Thesystem of claim 5 further comprising: said software querying a costtable based on a type of communication resource to retrieve the costrecord from said second database, wherein the cost table includes datapertaining to at least one service agreement relating to thecommunication resource.
 7. The system of claim 1 wherein each datatransaction is selected from the group consisting of: Internet, cellulardata, SMS and combinations thereof.
 8. The system of claim 1 wherein thecost record is indicative of the cost of the communication resource fora plurality of devices.
 9. The system of claim 1 wherein the datatransaction includes a source address or a destination address thesystem further comprising: said software querying the storage by atleast one of the source address and/or destination address to determineif an address stored in the first storage matches at least one of thesource address and/or destination address.
 10. The system of claim 9wherein at least one of the source address and/or destination address isindicative of an e-mail address.
 11. The system of claim 1 wherein thefirst and second data transactions are further associated with a firstuser.
 12. The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality ofdata transactions is indicative of data use for business purposes andthe cost report is generated to associate a business account identifierwith the data use for business purposes.
 13. The system of claim 1wherein at least one of the plurality of data transactions is indicativeof login credentials for a cloud computing resource.
 14. The system ofclaim 1 wherein the device is selected from the group consisting of: asmart phone, a tablet, a lap top computer, a desk top computer, aserver, a device that utilizes machine-to-machine (M2M) communicationand combinations thereof.
 15. A computer implemented method forallocating communication costs, the computer performing the steps of:accessing data corresponding to a plurality of data transactionsassociated with at least one device, each data transaction having avalue indicative of the device's data usage of a communication resourceassociated with an application; accessing a cost record indicative of acost associated with the communication resource; comparing the value ofa first one and a second one of the plurality of data transactions tothe cost record to determine a first and a second allocated costrespectively for the first one and the second one of the plurality ofdata transactions; allocating the first and second allocated costs todifferent accounts.
 16. The method of claim 15 wherein said comparingstep includes comparing the value of each of the plurality of datatransactions to the cost record to determine an allocated cost for eachof the plurality of data transactions.
 17. The method of claim 15further comprising further comprising associating at least one of thefirst and second allocated costs with an account associated with a thirdparty other than the enterprise.
 18. The method of claim 15 furthercomprising: determining an allocated cost associated with each of the atleast one device; and associating an account identifier with eachallocated cost.
 19. The method of claim 18 further comprising generatinga cost report based on the comparing step, the cost report indicative ofthe cost allocated based on the value.
 20. The method of claim 15further comprising: wherein at least one data transaction is associatedwith data usage of a cloud computing resource.
 21. The method of claim15 further comprising: associating the first or the second allocatedcost with a group within an entity in order to charge the first orsecond allocated cost to the group, wherein the group is associated witha plurality of devices.
 22. The system of claim 15 wherein the differentaccounts are each associated with one or more of the group consistingof: credit card information, bank account information, and onlinepayment information.
 23. The system of claim 15 wherein the differentaccounts are indicated by one or more of: a division, a group, anindividual within a company or entity, and an individual outside thecompany or entity.
 24. A system for allocating communication costscomprising: a computer; a storage accessible by said computer andcontaining a record of a first and a second data transaction each havinga value indicative of a data usage of a communication resource by adevice, where the data usage is associated with an application; softwareexecuting on said computer for generating a cost report by comparingcost data indicative of a cost associated with the communicationresource to the first and second data transactions to allocate a firstcost to a first account and a second cost to a second account, the firstand second costs respectively associated with the first and second datatransactions.
 25. The system of claim 24 wherein the cost report isindicative of a group associated with the data transaction.
 26. Thesystem of claim 24 wherein at least one of the plurality of datatransactions is indicative of login credentials for a cloud computingresource, wherein the first or second allocated cost is associated withdata usage associated with the cloud computing resource.
 27. The systemof claim 24 further comprising: said software querying a cost tablebased on a type of communication resource to retrieve the cost recordfrom said second database, wherein the cost table includes informationpertaining to at least one service agreement relating to thecommunication resource between the entity and a communication resourceprovider.
 28. The system of claim 24 wherein the different accounts areeach associated with one or more of the group consisting of: credit cardinformation, bank account information, and online payment information.29. The system of claim 24 wherein the different accounts are indicatedby one or more of: a division, a group, an individual within a companyor entity, and an individual outside the company or entity.